i dont really know how to feel about this game. on one hand, it was worth every dollar i spent singularly because of Hanzo's route which is one of the most well written, emotionally captivating and engaging routes in an otome that i've ever played. however (and maybe this on me for not heeding the M rating) i did not anticipate how fucking dark some routes were going to get (and i'm not talking Bad endings, just normal route content). like not to the point i was disturbed but to the point i genuinely couldn't understand what they were trying to say about specific pairings or even the plot itself. i'm nearing the end of Kuroyuki's route right now which i haven't been able to stand, but Chojiro's was worse. Goemon's felt really rushed and then brushed quickly past an insanely traumatizing event that occurs near the end of his route but that Enju never really.. processes? at all? idk. i'm glad i bought this, i fucking loved Hanzo and would literally keep this game on my switch just to replay his route whenever i want, but that's about it. and Gekka, shrug, idk i just dont care for him.

Come for the cute ninja boys, stay for the themes of the way the rich and powerful treat the common man as expendable pawns in their political games. All the routes are interesting and fun! The characters are compelling and there were some definite surprises, and as I tend to prefer otomes with well realized protagonists more than I like self-insert ciphers I like Enju! She’s a pretty good otome protagonist!

The music is pretty good and the art’s nice, too. Gotta say, though, one star off for no Tokugawa and/or Kyara route. Where are they. Tokugawa is so pretty and I like my wlw options. Oh well, what was there was pretty good so I can’t complain too much.

I think this one is kind of a toss up.. it was in the middle for me. I saved Gekkamaru for last as that was the recommendation with the walkthrough I used, but I was honestly a little disappointed. I feel the routes overall are repetitive and I really feel like the only one that actually gave both the protagonist and the LI good character development was Hanzo’s. Which is funny because I was initially wary of his route since he and the protagonist have such a huge age gap. But he ended up being one of the routes I liked the most. I also liked Goemon’s, made even better by his VA.
I really wasn’t a fan of Enju as a protagonist. It’s tough for me to get invested in romances between minors and adults. Sometimes there are exceptions and of course taking place toward the end of the Sengoku period, things were a lot different, but still. I just felt she was kind of boring…? And overall I think her feelings for each LI just weren’t very convincing.
The music here is cool, the artwork is good but I think I’ve been too spoiled by other Otome games to really call it anything super special. As a nitpick, I get SO annoyed with kiss CGs that aren’t like, a complete kiss?!?? Like they’re almost there but like… Is it hard to draw lips touching? Who knows. Such a petty complaint but it just annoys me lol